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Genesis

About this book

Disobedience and Expulsion from the Garden

Chapter 3

1 Now the serpent was shrewder than any of the wild animals⁠ that the Lord God had made.⁠ He said to the woman,⁠ “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?”⁠ 2 The woman said to the serpent,⁠ “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard;⁠ 3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’”⁠ 4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die,⁠ 5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like God,⁠ knowing good and evil.”⁠ 6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye,⁠ and was desirable for making one wise,⁠ she took some of its fruit and ate it.⁠ She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her,⁠ and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.⁠ 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day,⁠ and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”⁠ 10 The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”⁠ 11 And the Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.”⁠ 13 So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”⁠ 14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the cattle and all the living creatures of the field!⁠ On your belly you will crawl⁠ and dust you will eat all the days of your life.⁠ 15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”⁠ 16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains;⁠ with pain you will give birth to children.⁠ You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.”⁠ 17 But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed the voice of52 your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,⁠ ‘You must not eat from it,’ the ground is cursed because of you;⁠ in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.⁠ 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grass of the field.⁠ 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”⁠ 20 The man named his wife Eve,⁠ because she was the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made garments from skin⁠ for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.⁠ 22 And the Lord God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil,⁠ he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”⁠ 23 So the Lord God expelled him from the orchard in Eden⁠ to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken. 24 When he drove the man out, he placed on the eastern side of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling sword⁠ to guard the way to the tree of life.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 3:3 and Numbers 24:13

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Numbers 24 follows a pattern first seen in Genesis 3 where a person must decide whether to follow a divine command. In Genesis, Eve gives in to the offer given to her, and in Numbers, Balaam faces a similar offer but chooses to obey what he was told.

Passages

Genesis 3:3

Hebrew Bible
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, 5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Numbers 24:13

Hebrew Bible
12 Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also tell your messengers whom you sent to me, 13 ‘If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’? 14 And now, I am about to go back to my own people. Come now, and I will advise you as to what this people will do to your people in future days.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

References

"... Genesis 2-3 and Numbers 22-24 each contain two interrelated contests of wills—one between the human and the divine, and the other between the human and the animal. In both cases the protagonist is granted the freedom to act as she or he wishes, but there is a great distance between the woman's disregard for higher authority in the face of temptation (eating from the tree), and Balaam's deliberate consultations with God despite his desire for the reward offered by Balak. The woman briefly expresses hesitation about defying the command against eating from the tree (Gen. 3.3), but she is quickly persuaded that the reward will outstrip the punishment. The man, for his part, shows no compunction whatsoever about taking the fruit offered to him by the woman (3.6). Obedience to the voice of the snake entails the rejection of divine authority ... In marked contrast to this are Balaam's continual protestations that he cannot go against the command of the Lord, as well as his firm stance in the face of Balak's enticements of silver and gold. Noteworthy in this regard is Balaam's ultimate objection in Numbers 24:13 (Ί could not do anything good or bad of my own accord, contrary to the Lord's command'). The man and the woman eat willingly of the tree of good and evil, while Balaam rejects the possibility of making an autonomous decision when it conflicts with a direct command from God ..."
G. Savran, “Beastly Speech: Intertextuality, Balaam’s Ass and the Garden of Eden,” JSOT 64 (1994): 33–55.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 3:3 and Numbers 24:13

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